Updated WordPress to 2.9.2, disabled plug-ins. Oh, and frustrated

A few of you will note this blog is not as functional as it was a few moments ago, because keeping WordPress up-to-date increasingly means dealing with plug-in incompatibility that causes my entire site to shut down.

As much as I like WordPress, this is a pain that really has to end soon. I’m willing to give up some functionality for security, both against external threats like hackers and malware. But the truth is, I don’t use that many plug-ins in the first place. What I’m mainly looking for is:

• a way to reward readers (links that give pagerank, comment luv so commentators can build links)
• social network sharing buttons (they’re not just “flair.” Even one shared item goes a long way)
• related posts compiler and links (hugely important when your archives are the main draw)
• spam filter (I do like Akismet)

I know I’m going to have to wait for the plug-ins in question to update, and enable them as they do. Fine. But again, I don’t use many and I know I’m not asking for much. I’ve very happy with WP as a platform and as a community. But I can already tell you these update problems are out-of-hand: some publishers are far more dependent on their plug-ins than I am. And an effective, secure resolution is in everyone’s interest, the sooner the better.